From comic book action to quirky indie dramedy, Stephen Merchant does it all By T.T. Stern-Enzi Photo: Stephen Merchant as Caliban in ‘Logan’ ‘invests him with a degree of yearning and frustration fitting to both the dark world and his circumstances’ The big box office news from the past weekend focused on the major league […]

‘Before I Fall’ slogs through a never-ending day of life lessons By T.T. Stern-Enzi Photo: Zoey Deutch as Samantha Kingston in ‘Before I Fall’ Rating: PG-13; Grade: D+ Samantha Kingston (Zoey Deutch) is the wannabe mean girl in the cool crowd who has to work the hardest simply to create the kind of persona […]

Assessing the independent alternative to the Oscars By T.T. Stern-Enzi Photo: (l-r) Alex R. Hibbert as Little and Mahershala Ali as Juan in ‘Moonlight’ I have always been a sucker for the freewheeling and free-spirited appeal of the Film Independent Spirits Awards. What’s not to love? Instead of the grand presentation full of glitz and […]

A pair of contrasting sequels highlights the challenges of returning to the familiar By T.T. Stern-Enzi Photo: Riccardo Scamarcio as Santino D’Antonio (left) and Ruby Rose as Ares in ‘John Wick: Chapter 2’ The current industry preoccupation with sequels, remakes, and reboots, from a narrative standpoint, is all about returning to the scene of the […]

The case for Michael Keaton and Matthew McConaughey in divergent, but still forgettable roles By T. T. Stern-Enzi Photo: Michael Keaton as Ray Kroc in ‘The Founder’ The last two weeks have given audiences prime examples of how the awards season can take films and actors, chew them up, and quite ungraciously spit them out—even the […]

It is time to recognize the maturation of Natalie Portman By T.T. Stern-Enzi Photo: Natalie Portman as Jacqueline Kennedy in ‘Jackie’ Rating: R; Grade: A It could be argued that director Pablo Larraín’s probing new biopic “Jackie” offers a perfect example of what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object. Working from a […]

Being bad is all about how hard you try By T.T. Stern-Enzi Photo: Will Smith as Howard and Helen Mirren as Brigitte in ‘Collateral Beauty’ I can’t say whether I’m a glass half-full or a half-empty kind of person because from my perspective, I’m usually just glad to have a glass. When it comes to […]

‘Hidden Figures’ fails to teach the whole psychological truth By T.T. Stern Enzi Photo: Octavia Spencer as Dorothy Vaughan (center) leads a group of women in ‘Hidden Figures’ Rating: PG; Grade: B It is hard to fault Theodore Melfi for his safe and carefully crafted “Hidden Figures.” As the writer-director of “St. Vincent,” he had […]

Hollywood decides to nominate based on ‘performance’ over gender T.T. Stern-Enzi Photo: Ingrid Bergman as Paula Alquist in Oscar-winning ‘Gaslight’ Have you ever stopped to consider the all-time grudge match competitions that could have dominated our cultural dialogues over the years? To isolate just one knock-down, drag-them-out slug-fest: who gave the best performance of the […]